1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automated technique for manufacturing a hard disk drive, and more particularly to an automated technique for improving a yield of a head disk assembly in a function test process.
2. Description of the Related Art
A hard disk drive (HDD) which is composed of a head disk assembly and a printed circuit board can magnetically read and write a great deal of information from and onto a rotating magnetic disk, at a high speed. With the advantages of the high data storage capacity and the high operating speed, the hard disk drive has been widely used as an auxiliary memory for a computer system. Such a hard disk drive is generally manufactured by a series of divided processes.
Exemplary efforts in the art are represented by: U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,887 to Guzik et al., entitled Method And Apparatus For Compensating Positioning Error In Magnetic-Head And Magnetic-Disk Tester, U.S. Pat. No. 5,212,677 to Shimote et al., entitled Defect Inspecting Apparatus For Disc-Shaped Information Recording Media, U.S. Pat. No. 4,949,036 to Bezinque et al., entitled Disc Drive Error Mapping Using Threshold Comparison Methods, U.S. Pat. No. 5,654,841 to Hobson etal., entitled Detection Of Mechanical Defects In A Disc Drive Using Injected Test Signals, U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,395 to Matsuzaki, entitled Hard Disc Track Defect Detecting Apparatus, U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,327 to Suda, entitled Hard Disk Inspection Apparatus, U.S. Pat. No. 4,904,938 to O'Reilly et al., entitled Method And Apparatus For Testing Characteristics Of A Floppy Disc And A Floppy Disc Drive, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,589,777 to Davis et al., entitled Circuit And Method For Testing A Disk Drive Head Assembly Without Probing.
An earlier process for manufacturing the head disk assembly (HDA) of the hard disk drive is divided into first to third divided processes I, II, and III. The first divided process I is a HDA assembling process in which the head disk assembly is assembled in a clean room. The second divided process II is a servo writing process in which a servo writer writes a servo write pattern on the disk for a servo control of an actuator. Further, the third divided process III is a function test process in which the head disk assembly, being connected to a test printed circuit board assembly (PCBA), undergoes a function test for about 20 to 25 minutes, in order to check whether the head disk assembly interfaces properly with the printed circuit board assembly.
As described above, after writing the servo information on the head disk assembly, an operator must manually combine the head disk assembly with the test PCBA and apply the power thereto in order to perform the function test on the head disk assembly. In the meantime, the operator can recognize the test results by way of blinking of an indication LED.
In light of the foregoing, when performing the function test on the head disk assembly, the operator mainly depends upon a manual process. Thus, if handled improperly, the head disk assembly may be seriously damaged. Besides, the yield may be lowered in the function test process, if a pogo-pin arrangement for connecting the head disk assembly to the test PCBA is worn.